Ingenious Inkling

Make Merry

This week at Jingle Belles we're creating free-standing holiday tags ... or using tags on cards.  I don't wrap any gifts, so I don't need any free-standing tags ... however I do hit all of the after-Christmas sales to buy up as many of the glittery fun tags I can find to use on next year's holiday cards.

My card features a big glittery wreath tag using the sketch from Try Stampin' (or Not) on Tuesday.

 

I added a few sequins and since the theme is Anything Goes at the Retro Rubber Challenge, I inked-up this little Savvy Stamps sentiment that is at least 12 years old, because here's a card I made using it from 2007.

 

 

It's also All About Occasions at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

 

 

And the winner of last week's Big Box of Goodness Giveaway is (drum roll please) ...

Allisa said:

2500 mile road trip with my son to deliver a rescue dog to his forever home! Thanks so much for the chance to win.

 

Send an e-mail with your mailing address to SmilynStef at aol dot com and I'll get the goodies sent your way.

Mr. Snowman

The theme at the Inspired by Challenge is Mr. Snowman.

 

I pulled out two vintage wood-mounted stamps for my card ... Savvy Stamps Snowman and Impress Let It Snow.

 

I added a red scarf and die cut my snowflakes from MFT Die-Namics Layered Snowflakes finishing with a blue epoxy dot and frames to bring in the colors from the Inspiration Photo.

Savvy So Thoughful

The current Mix-It-Up Challenge at Essentials by Ellen is one of the very first stamp companies I fell in love with ... Savvy Stamps.  

I had fun digging through my drawers of wooden stamps to see how many Savvy stamps I still had in my collection.  

I decided to combine the Savvy Stamps So Thoughtful sentiment with Essentials by Ellen Bold Blossoms Die Cuts.  The Sketch is from the TGIF Challenges.  Papers are Amy Tangerine's Rise & Shine.

Vintage Buttons & Memories

It seems like the holidays make you miss loved ones even more than usual.  When I saw today's Splitcoast Stampers Inspiration Challenge, I actually teared-up a bit because I had really been missing my step-mom this week (who was taken from us much too soon after her courageous battle with leukemia), and one of the things I still have is some of her vintage button collection.

As I strolled through the Button Collection, I thought about how much she would have loved Pinterest and how fun it would have been to look at the buttons together.  I chose this vintage Abalone Button as my inspiration.

I featured one of her big abalone buttons using this week's Mojo Monday Sketch.

I kept the card fairly simple, so the gorgeousness of her big bold button would shine.  I used industrial strength glue dots to adhere the button, and I will make sure it gets mailed in a bubble-wrap envelope.

 

12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist - Day 11

On Day 11 of the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist it was The Night Before Christmas.

I loved the city-scape designs in both of the sample tags, so I incorporated that into my tag design.  I started with a manila tag and layered on two different skyline die cuts from Hero Arts and Savvy.

I added a gold glitter moon and two stamps from Essentials by Ellen Santa's Flight.  I added some red linen ribbon for a pop of color in this neutral design.

Inky Christmas Muse

I wanted to get Inky this morning (which is a nice way of saying I made a mess) with Kimberly Wiener's Inspiration at the Muse: Christmas Visions Challenge.  Here is her inky masterpiece:

I picked four stamps that I thought I could make work with the grid pattern (although I ended-up going with a sort of wonky grid).  I stamped in white, clear embossed, and applied my Distress pads directly to the watercolor paper.  These snowmen are some of the oldest stamps in my stash ... and I still love them.

I added an SRM Winter Sticker to finish the design, but mostly let the ink speak for itself.

Tag You're It!

I'm joining the fun at the new challenge blog, Tag You're It!  This week the inspiration comes from the talented Laura Basson.

I wanted to capture the gradiation of color with a white resist on the background and the pop of black ... here are the results.

I folded a card base & die cut my tag using Spellbinders Labels 20 (with the top and bottom trimmed off).  I used versamark and clear embossing powder on Hero Arts Fabulous Flourish.  My embossing was not as clean as I would have liked (too much stray powder), but I went with it anyway ... I'm calling it *distressed*.  I sponged on Distress Ink in Festive Berries, Ripe Persimmon and Squeezed Lemonade.

I finished with a die cut hello sentiment from Savvy and black ribbon ... love how the black just pops with those colors.

Authentique Genuine Wedding

I'm starting to get a bit stressed-out about packing-up the rest of my studio for my upcoming move.  I'm trying to get all of the cards finished that I'll need for the next few weeks ... but I keep remembering more and more that I need to get made ... like this wedding card.

I used papers from Authentique's Genuine Collection together with scraps of DCWV gold metallic paper.  The layout is this week's Mojo Monday Sketch.  The stamp is Savvy's Solid Wedding Couple.

12 Tags of Christmas - Julie Ebersole Inspired

Day 2 of the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist features this beauty from Julie Ebersole.  Julie was the first stamper I had a serious *design crush* on when first I discovered her clean classy designs on SCS ... and she still inspires me as much ... or more ... today.

I decided to incorporate a grey sky, buildings, stars, sequins and a floating sentiment ... as well as the cool 3-D window-box effect into my tag design.

I started by die cutting stars into my sky.  Next I die cut the Savvy Cityscape twice from silver metallic cardstock and then cut them into four pieces, so I could layer them with foam tape for dimension.  I die cut a Spellbinders Labels 20 opening into the top tag and began assembling, placing more silver cardstock behind the star openings before attaching my matching natural colored card back.

I finished with a silver jingle bell border and a die cut Merry Christmas sentiment that floats across the label opening.  The final step was some sequin sparkle ... I will confess, I didn't really *get* sequins when they first started showing-up in designs ... now I want to include them everywhere ... especially in little groups.

I'm also joining the Christmas Card Challenges where the theme this week is no stamping ... and sneaking in one last project featuring sequins for the Paper Crafts Gallery.

Cold Hands ... Warm Heart

Having a little Mojo Monday fun with the pretty blues of Bo Bunny's Woodland Winter, my sweet Savvy Let It Snowman and some SRM Winter Stickers.

Of course I had to add a little warm heart to finish the card.